A Test of Leadership
by aajjww121
Summary: Weiss finds herself on the wrong end of a familiar sight. A standalone fic done on a whim. Reviews welcome.


Weiss was quite aware that Ruby's scythe doubled as a sniper rifle. It seemed like every day that Ruby was taking it apart or practicing at the range, and Weiss knew, intellectually at least, that she was rather skilled with it.

She just really wished she'd thought about that before trying to cross the open field between her and where her partner was hiding.

The round had hit hard, impacting a pressure point in her shoulder and making her whole arm go numb. She'd gasped in pain, her weapon dropping from limp fingers. The second round had impacted as she'd made a grab for it with her off hand, impacting the side of her knee and sending her collapsing to the ground. She'd cursed as she spat dirt out of her mouth, again going to grab her sword, only for the third round to hit her square in the side, and everything had gone black.

She'd awoken to the taste of copper in the back of her throat and belatedly realized that she'd bitten her tongue. After trying to rise and failing, she found that she'd been bound hand and foot, likely with duct tape. Several minutes had been spent on trying to escape, to no avail.

Now she waited, studying the bare walls of the room she was in, cracked cement and an iron door. She cursed herself for not waiting for backup, for not doing the smart thing and going through the forest, for not expecting the precise fire that had disabled her so effectively. With nothing else to do, she started counting, once per heartbeat. She'd reached three thousand before the door swung open, squealing on rusty hinges.

She scowls as Ruby walks in, a familiar blond slung over her shoulders. With a grunt, Ruby sets her sister down across the room from Weiss, checking to make sure that the duct tape around her wrists wasn't going to come loose before turning to the heiress.

"Two down, Weiss. I'm almost free and clear," she says mockingly, before heading out and closing the door behind her. Weiss waits until she hears the latch slide shut before making her way over to Yang as quickly as she was able.

"Dammit, Yang, how'd she mange to down you, of all people," she muttered under her breath as she looked the blonde over. There was a rapidly darkening patch of skin across her throat, showing where Ruby must have choked her out. "At least you managed to avoid her sniper fire," she commented, rolling over to see if she could get at Yang's bindings.

Several minutes of work with her teeth finally rewarded her with Yang's hands coming free, and she'd just started trying to figure out how to wake her when she heard the first shot. It was muffled, but low caliper, definitely not Crescent Rose. For a moment she dared hope that Blake had managed to ambush Ruby, but the answering blasts from Ruby's sniper rifle ended that hope. In desperation, she head butted Yang in the stomach and was rewarded with the larger girl coughing in response, her unfocused gaze eventually finding Weiss' desperate face.

"Weiss, what-?"

"Ruby captured us, Blake is engaged, we need to get out there! Can you fight?" Weiss demanded, her tone urgent.

"Can I… Yeah, yeah, I can fight," Yang said, reaching down and pulling the duct tape off her ankles. She quickly undid Weiss' bonds before standing, swaying slightly. "Woah, dizzy. Just… just give me a moment," she said, slumping against a wall.

Weiss looked on worriedly, rubbing her wrists where they'd chafed. Not waiting for Yang, she tried the door, finding it solid against her attempts. She flinched away from the door when a stray round pinged off of it, by the sound of it from Blake's pistol. She turned back to Yang, watching her straighten up more. "We need to get this door open."

Yang nodded, before stepping up to the wall next the door. With a grunt of effort, she drove her fist into the concrete, sending a spider web of cracks across the surface. She was just pulling back her face to do it again when the shooting outside suddenly went quiet, one last shot from Crescent Rose signaling their friend's likely defeat. With a look they moved to either side of the door, waiting.

When the latch slid open they tensed, ready to charge when the door opened. When it did, they moved with their best speed… right into the limp form of Blake as she was pushed into the cell. They all went down in a tangle of limbs, and Weiss realized that Ruby had been expecting them to rush the door. The sudden, quick binding of her hands behind her back, and the fast moving form that did the same to Yang only cemented this belief, leaving her scowling in rage. With a growl she lunged, but the figure simply took two steps back and watched as Weiss tackled Yang to the ground, landing hard enough to bite her tongue again.

It was with a scowl that she looked up at the beaming face of her leader, glaring at the sweet, genuine smile that still rested on her innocent face. Her scowl only deepened as Ruby's grin grew wider, especially when she realized that Yang was already out cold again. It was with a shudder that she spoke, the words crawling down her spine. "Alright, I give. I still can't replace you as leader, there, I said it."

Ruby leaned back against a wall, her belt jingling with the weight of the team's weapons. "Really? Because I think you actually did very well, at first at least. You drove me this far out in order to properly ambush you, and you were doing a good job of tracking me until you decided to cross that field. Your only real mistake was letting yourselves get so spread apart."

"Wait, then…"

"I'd say you passed, Weiss. I have no qualms with entrusting you with Team RWBY. Though you do still have some things to work on."

Weiss took a moment to collect herself before responding. "…did you have to be so rough about it? I mean, seriously, look at what you did to Yang."

"Nothing I haven't had done to me at one point or another. Besides, I kept it to rubber bullets, didn't I?" Ruby pointed out as she reached down to undo Weiss' bonds.

"You with a rubber bullet is still a terrifying thing, Ruby. Seriously, I know you're the best shot in Beacon, but you could easily kill someone with even a rubber bullet," Weiss stated as she got up.

"You're right, I can."

Something in Ruby's tone made Weiss pause. "Wait, Ruby, have you actually…"

Ruby just smiled as she bent down to help Yang and Blake, leaving Weiss wondering just how close she got to dying today.


End file.
